Run
by Wolf of the Aurora
Summary: The war has ended, and there is only one thing Shipgirls can do.


**A/N: This is a combination of two assignments I had written for one of my literature classes; poem + short story. The poem got an A, but the story got a B because it was, as my professor put it, "the universe created is too large for the [given] assignment." I only have myself to blame for that. I tried to format the poem to how it was originally, but it proved difficult, so I got it as close as possible.**

 ** **When I wrote this, I was heavily experimenting with numerous things, such as concept, characters, setting, writing style, descriptions, and other stuff like that. I look forward to any feedback you want to say.****

* * *

We fought hard to defend the seas and the skies.

We welcomed them home from a hard-fought war.

We were honored.

We called them heroes and celebrated their names.

But we were betrayed by our own country!

We know what they were.

The names they would call us!

Bastards!

Witches!

Demons!

The Devil!

We scoured every inch of land.

We tried to explain, but they wouldn't listen.

Preemptively hunted these monsters to protect ourselves.

They slaughtered us in the streets!

The cowards wouldn't fight back.

We didn't fight back as we _swore_ to protect them.

There's only one thing they would do.

There's only one thing we _can_ do.

Run.

* * *

The room was dark with only a small amount of light filtering through a vent in the ceiling. The air was hot and thick, almost as if being smothered by a pillow. Under the beam of light was a woman restrained to a chair. Her hair was filthy and matted, eyes dull and glazed. Not one piece of clothing was on her body, but she was covered in bruises and open wounds. Any normal human would have been dead long before this stage of punishment. However, as an Iron Maiden, she could take the punishment.

USS Constitution would not break her resolve.

A powerful punch swept across her face. Constitution's assailant, battleship Montana, shook her fist as if she just punched an iron wall.

Well, Constitution wasn't nicknamed "Old Ironsides" for nothing.

Montana made another strike on Constitution and let out an annoyed grunt. Montana was there to make Constitution talk and all efforts have ended in failure. She could see that Constitution was clearly in agony, and all Constitution had to do to relieve all of it was to tell Montana where the escaped Maidens went.

Constitution did not have the energy to lift her head, but she still managed to look up at her antagonist in the eyes.

The message was clear.

Montana disappeared from the light and came back with a sledgehammer in her hands. Yelling with every bit of frustration boiling up within her, Montana unleashed her fury on Constitution. The old frigate screamed as her ribs and sternum were crushed with a sick and nauseating _"Crack!"_ , and she only shrieked louder as her shoulder and legs followed soon after. She was only silenced when the metal mallet slammed into her jaw.

Constitution was reduced to a pitiful pile of undignified groans and moans, but her resolve still held. As best as she could, she taunted Montana. She went on about how there were no battleships named after the state of Montana. No matter what Montana claimed, this "Montana" was just something cooked up in a lab with the sole purpose was to compete with the Iron Maidens.

But the science never passed the supernatural.

Montana took a blind swing with rage. She missed Constitution and broke the chair legs instead causing the Maiden to fall onto her side. Montana stood over her and was about to bash her head in when someone opened the door.

A male voice ordered Montana to stop. Looking like someone who was caught shoplifting, she lowered her arms and turned towards the man in the door, her superior. There was no exchange of words as Montana's superior kept talking, but there was one set of words that stood out to Constitution:

"We found them."

Constitution's eyes grew wide with anxiety. There was no way. She endured so much pain so they could hide. She never said a word about their location. And now they're all gone. Her allies. Her comrades-in-arms. Her friends. Her family. They are all gone.

She stayed in her shocked state with her mouth agape as Montana started spraying gasoline all over and around Constitution's body.

 _Chuh-shhh!_

Constitution caught the sight of a glowing match in Montana's hand. There was absolutely no sympathy on Montana's face. In fact, it looked positively calm and relieved as if a weight had finally been lifted from her shoulders.

The supposed battleship flicked it like a cigarette and it headed towards Constitution. Constitution could steadily feel the heat growing as it fell closer to the gasoline-soaked ground. She started to turn cold and she shivered from her icy blood. But even then, as her demise kept approaching, she could only think of her friends. Only one plea wordlessly escaped her lips.

"Run…"

* * *

Orleck, the reincarnation of the _Gearing_ -class destroyer of the same name, sat on the deck of the fantail of her namesake.

She hummed contentedly as she drew in her sketch book. As she sketched a volcano, she could not help but wonder if Kidd, The Sullivans, and a whole manner of other Maidens manage to escape.

Violence had broken out against the Maidens after the war for being suspected to be worse than the enemy they saved the world from. Many could not flee as the equipment that the Maidens used that allowed them to walk, run, and fight on water like infantry were scrapped after the war. Many tried to go into hiding, but to no avail. Those that were lucky were able to run by controlling their namesakes, many of them were museum ships. Maidens that were brave – or crazy – enough to attempt and succeeded at controlling their respected ships scattered across the oceans.

Orleck finished her sketch and compared it to a live volcano that was several miles from where she was moored. There was a chain of active volcanic islands in the Pacific where Orleck met up with other Ex-US Navy Maidens that escaped with their museum ships. The volcanoes actively spewed lava and ash into the sky, but Battleship Iron Maiden Missouri reasoned that the erupting volcanoes and ash clouds would help mask their signature. As a precaution, the Maidens of the small fleet of museum ships set up electronic warfare countermeasures on calmer parts of the island chain.

A basketball bounced onto her deck, startling Orleck.

"Sorry, Orleck!" Midway shouted from the flight deck of the _Midway_. "Can you toss the ball back up please?"

Orleck picked up the ball and, with inhuman strength, threw the ball the several hundred feet back onto the aircraft carrier.

"Thanks! Alright, men! Who wants to duel me next?" Midway said to some of her pilots and sailors that were still loyal to the Maidens.

Orleck sat back down and crossed her legs. She looked around to find something else to draw when she heard the clattering of tin cans. Looking behind her, she saw the reincarnation of the _Allen M. Sumner_ -class destroyer USS _Laffey_ hop from her namesake onto the _Orleck_. There were two tin cans in her hands. The rattle came from the rocks inside the cans. Laffey walked mischievously past Orleck and to the railing. Laffey had a look on her face and Orleck knew _that look_.

"Uh, Laffey?"

Laffey put a finger up to her lips to indicate silence. She dropped the cans over the side. And not five seconds later…

"Depth charges!"

A young woman in a competition swimsuit literally shot out of the water and flopped onto the _Orleck_ 's deck. It was the Submarine Maiden Torsk.

Laffey and Orleck burst out laughing at the shaking Maiden's misfortune.

"Oh, man!" Orleck teared up. "That was too good!"

"Did you think those cans were actually depth charges?" Laffey asked, her sides aching from laughter.

"Yes!" Torsk declared. "Maybe if you were stuck underwater while being hunted by destroyers, you'd feel the same! Pam!"

A wet lasso shot out of the water and wrapped itself around Laffey's waist. With a yelp, Laffey was yanked into the water by Submarine Maiden Pampanito.

"Ah, she had that coming," Orleck said, her sides recovering from laughing as she heard loud splashes along with Laffey's squeals. Looking over the side, she saw only Pampanito and Lionfish tormenting Laffey. "Hey, Torsk. Where are the other subs?"

"Hm? Oh, they're skinny dipping by the volcano seeing who can get closest to the lava."

"Was that on a dare?" a new voice asked.

Looking behind them, they saw _Iowa_ -class Battleship Iron Maidens Iowa and Missouri walking towards them.

"Yup." Torsk jumped over the side. "Hold her under the water!"

The Maidens watched the chaotic flailing of limbs in the splashing water before them.

"Hey, Iowa. How did you know we could take control of our ships?" Orleck asked.

"It was actually Mo that figured it out," Iowa said, patting her ship sister's shoulder.

"During the war, I was supposed to be dishonorably discharged and my equipment scrapped for beating up an admiral," Missouri said. "But my admiral told me to never give up. On my way back to the states, I had to stop at Pearl and I decided to visit my ship. There was this…feeling. Man, it's hard to describe. But I somehow just knew."

In the water, Laffey broke the surface, the Submarine Maidens still trying to hold her under.

"Orleck! Help! I'm going to sink!"

"Eh, no you won't. You're 'The Ship That Would Not Die' for a reason, you know."

"Why Kidd? Why-y-y-y? Why would you betray me-e-e-e-e?" Laffey said in a dramatic tone.

"Everything in moderation," Missouri said to the subs. "Don't torture her more than necessary."

The Submarine Maidens frowned. With their collective strength, they threw Laffey into the air. The Destroyer Maiden fell onto Orleck with a wet splat.

"Get off me!" Orleck shoved Laffey off of her and stood up. "Oh, great. You got my clothes wet!"

"Well they're about to be soaked!" Laffey smiled.

"Huh? Whoa!"

Laffey tackled Orleck and they both fell into the water.

* * *

The skies were nice and clear. There were a few clouds, but the volcanoes seemed to have decided to take a day off. Laffey walked across the plank from the _Laffey_ to the _Orleck_. She held a breakfast-in-bed tray that carried a fork, a bottle of juice, and a plate of eggs, bacon, and pancakes. It has been several weeks after their plunge into the ocean. Orleck had developed a fever, and Laffey took it upon herself to nurse her friend back to good health.

Orleck lay in her bed in the captain's cabin with a thermometer in her mouth. She absentmindedly moved the thermometer left to right as she stared up at the ceiling. That's when the door opened. Orleck looked towards the door and saw Laffey close the door behind her and walked towards the bed. The thermometer beeped.

"Ah, well perfect timing," Laffey said as she set the tray on the bed and took the thermometer from Orleck's mouth. "96. Your temperature is normal. How do you feel?" Laffey went to the sink to wash and disinfect the thermometer.

"I feel good. Thanks for taking care of me."

"Not a problem. Sorry for dragging you into the water."

"That's okay." Orleck held up the bottle of juice. "Orange juice? I thought you ran out."

"I got it from Midway. She never seems to run out of anything."

"She is a 'floating city' for a reason."

On one of Orleck's desks, there were several pictures of her time during the war against the Abyss. Many of the pictures included Laffey in them. One of the pictures had three other girls in with them. They were the reincarnations of ships that were in Taffy 3 during the Second World War. They were Destroyer Iron Maidens Johnston, Hoel, and Samuel B. Roberts. Affectionately called "The Murderballs" for their hyper aggressive, near-suicidal battle hungry attitudes. They're boldness came to no surprise to anyone.

"Do you think they made it?" Orleck asked.

"I sure hope so."

After her breakfast, Orleck dressed into her dungarees and stepped out onto the main deck.

Laffey was taking the tray back to her ship for washing when an alarm wailed from the _Midway_ , _Iowa_ , and _Missouri_.

Mere seconds later…

 _BRRRRRRRRRRRRR!_

Streams of tracers from the _Iowa_ 's close-in weapons defense systems made near flawless red lines in the sky. Midair explosions could be seen as the incoming shells were ripped apart by the wall of bullets. The weapons quickly ran dry and the splashes and explosions of a classic naval bombardment rained all around them.

"We've been found!" Iowa screamed through the radio. "It's the US Navy! _Arleigh Burkes_ , thirteen miles away! And there's something else. _Zumwalts_ , fifty miles away!"

Another barrage of explosions erupted all over the island chain.

"Our ECMs are destroyed!" Missouri shrieked. "Load the-! Fucking load H.E. now!"

Orleck violently flinched as the tremendous sound of 16" Mark 7 guns tore the air apart. Recovering from her shock, she summoned her will to start the _Orleck_ 's engines. She could feel the steam pressure slowly building up. She raised the anchors preemptively, and the waves immediately pushed her into the _Laffey_. The impact knocked both of them down to the decks.

"Laffey! Start your engines! We need to get out of here!"

"We can't leave our capital ships behind! It'll take them three hours before they build enough steam pressure!"

"Right. We'll tow them!" Orleck declared.

"No! Orleck! Laffey! Go! Run! Now!" Iowa ordered.

"But-!"

"She said 'Run'!" Missouri fired one of her 5" secondary guns at the lollygagging destroyers. The shot landed in between the widening gap between the _Orleck_ and the _Laffey_. Missouri turned into a banshee.

"RUN!"

"O-Orleck…let's go," Laffey choked as she ran to her bow.

Laffey's steam pressure had built up, and she went ahead flank, directing all energy into her steam turbines. She turned away from the approaching US Navy and headed toward the cover of the now active volcano's ash cloud while setting down a thick black smokescreen from the funnels as she went. Geysers of water plumed all around her, and she felt a sharp shudder.

She could feel it. She felt the shell punch right through the _Laffey_ , snapping the right propeller shaft and caused flooding. Mentally, she closed the watertight doors to that sector and applied left rudder as she felt her ship drift right.

Laffey was nearly in the ash cloud when she saw that Pampanito and Lionfish, with their respective submarines, had collided and ran aground. They were dangerously close to the flowing lava and a large oil fire surrounded them.

"Pam! Lionfish!" Laffey sailed into the fire, scraping her ship's hull along one of the submarine's. Laffey leaned over her railing. "Jump!"

Pampanito jumped first, and when she had a solid grasp on the railing, Laffey let her pull herself aboard as she reached for Lionfish. After they were all safely aboard, they evacuated to the left side of the ship to get away from the heat. Laffey sailed out of the fire, but she did not get very far.

An F/A-18 Super Hornet dove through the ash cloud and strafed the _Laffey_ 's deck with its machinegun.

"Pam!" Lionfish cried as she held the bloody, bullet ridden body of her friend.

The Super Hornet came back, this time dropping a bomb. Lionfish and Pampanito were completely erased from existence. Laffey was thrown against the bulkhead, and landed on her back on the deck. She struggled to stay awake. She couldn't concentrate on piloting her ship. The last thing she saw through her darkening vision was the jet's engines catching fire and the aircraft slamming into the mountain of volcanic rock.

* * *

Orleck sailed in the direction she last saw Laffey. Her ship was filled with holes. Charred, absent, and mangled metal made the _Orleck_ almost unrecognizable. Her ship listed towards starboard. She only managed to escape by dropping a smokescreen. The last thing she saw before being blinded by her own blackness was the _Iowa_ and _Missouri_ blasting away with every gun they had with explosions visible on the distant horizon.

Orleck entered the smoke Laffey had laid earlier. The further she advanced, the thicker it got. She saw an oil fire within the smoke and as she sailed through, she saw two submarines that had collided and they were damaged beyond recognition. A little further ahead, she saw…

"Laffey!"

The _Laffey_ had run aground with a massive hole amidships allowing water to rush in. Smoke was still generating from the stacks. The metal creaked and groaned as it melted under the intense heat of the lava flowing down the mountain. And there was Laffey, lying unconscious on the deck with both of her left limbs gone.

Orleck threw caution to the wind. She pulled up alongside the rapidly sinking _Laffey_. Laffey, still unconscious, floated onto the boiling water as her deck went under. The _Orleck_ 's heavy list made it easy for Orleck to fish Laffey out of the water.

A spurt of lava landed on the _Orleck_ 's bow and began melting the deck and forward main turret. Orleck commanded flank speed and a hard-left turn away from the island. Her aggressive move made the ship's stern catch some lava, but she still had control. Orleck made it far enough just in time to see a rush of molten rock flow over the _Laffey_ and the two grounded submarines.

Orleck willed her ship to stop, but still generate a smokescreen. She was still under the volcanic ash cloud which would protect her from aircraft as the ash was detrimental to jet engines.

The Maiden carried her friend to her captain's cabin which had a first aid cabinet that she installed. It was not as well equipped as the infirmary, but Laffey needed help _now_. She set the grimy and bloody Maiden onto her clean sheets and hurried to grab two tourniquets. Orleck strongly yet gently tightened the bands on Laffey's amputated limbs. Laffey twitched and gave a very light moan, but her eyes didn't open. Orleck dressed the stubs with bandages. She cut away Laffey's clothes and proceeded to clean and patch Laffey's open wounds.

Orleck exhaustedly worked for hours. She brought what small amount of equipment she could up from the infirmary. Anything that could potentially save Laffey, she did. All until the point she collapsed onto the side of the bed from exhaustion.

When Orleck woke up, the portable lantern on the nightstand was the only light on. Everything else was dark, including outside. She mentally went through the status of her ship. The _Orleck_ was sitting lower in the water than she remembered, but still afloat. Water flooded the engine rooms leaving her dead in the water. The engines have been dead for some time if their temperatures were anything to go by. Checking her surroundings using the radar (which was still miraculously functioning…barely), she was nowhere near the volcanic island chain. Or any piece of land for that matter.

 _Should've dropped anchor if I didn't want to move_.

Orleck turned her attention to her immediate surroundings. She was sitting in a chair with her head on her bed, using her arms as pillows. That much she recalled. But there was something in her hand. She didn't remember having _anything_ in her either of her hands.

Looking up, she saw that it was Laffey's hand. Laffey still had her eyes closed. Her skin was unusually pale. The iciness of the Maiden's hand quickly transferred to Orleck's hand.

"Laffey…"

Orleck tried pull her hand away, but Laffey had it in a stiff grip.

"Laffey…?"

With her other hand, Orleck felt Laffey's forehead. Ice shot through Orleck like an electric shock.

"Laffey?"

She looked for a pulse. Orleck breathed a sigh of relief as there was a very faint pulse. Orleck made a weak smile. Laffey was still alive. She truly is the ship that will never die. But what would it take to kill her? Will she suffer until every cell was obliterated? Laffey's one gift. Was it now a curse?

Orleck sat by the bed with her hands clasped around Laffey's. Some seconds, minutes, or hours – she didn't know – passed, when she heard the sound of rushing air and splashing water getting louder and louder. This could only mean one thing:

 _Ships!_

Orleck pulled her hand away from Laffey, grabbed a pistol, and stumbled out the door. Water splashed beneath her feet as she walked up the listing deck to the dryer left side of the ship to challenge the newcomers with her pistol. She saw the stars disappear behind the dark shapes as they got closer. Then she was suddenly blinded by spotlights.

"Argh! Bastards!" Orleck shouted pointing her pistol. "Who wants it?!"

"Orleck!"

She froze when she heard a familiar voice. Not one she heard for a long time. Her shaking legs gave way and she collapsed onto the deck.

"Orleck! It's me! Kidd!" the embodiment of _Fletcher_ -class destroyer shouted from her namesake. "Get those lights off her!"

With the light beams moved away, Orleck could see the _Kidd_ along with the destroyers _Cassin Young_ and _Joseph P. Kennedy Jr._ , and heavy cruiser _Salem_. Each ship had their respective Iron Maiden…and extras?

"Orleck!" a young voice called out.

Laffey looked towards the _Kidd_ and saw two figures jump the several yards from the destroyer onto her ship. The second figure in the pirate getup was Kidd, and the first one was Samuel B. Roberts or "Sammy B." as everyone took to calling her. The reincarnation of the destroyer escort instantly hugged Orleck.

"Laffey are you…okay…?" Kidd trailed off when she saw the tormented look in Orleck's eyes.

Only one word escaped Orleck's lips

"Run."

* * *

 **A/N: Feel free to give feedback.  
**

 **Also, Orleck, one of the many museum ships in this story, needs help.**

 **The USS Orleck is in trouble of being sunk or scrapped.** **I've talked to the head of the museum and he says they need money to repair, restore, and find a permanent dock for _Orleck_. ****Right now, they are running a fundraiser on their website (orleck . org [remove spaces]) which will end on December 31, 2018. Any amount of contribution, such as donating even $1 and helping to spread the word, will help them immensely.  
**

 **Take care, everyone.**


End file.
